Personality based on interplay of unconscious mental processes
Believed that early experiences in life play a large role in personality development
Failure to resolve the conflicts and problems that occur in each stage can leave a person fixated
Fixated means that the person becomes unconsciously preoccupied with one stage of life and this eventually translates over into adulthood
If all the stages are complete, then Freud believed that person had a healthy personality
STAGE TO STAGE:
1. Oral Stage: - A child's first year is most attracted to the mouth
- infants use their mouth to eat and to explore everything from toys to their own hands and feet
- mouth is the center of pleasure during this period.
2. Anal Stage: - Occurs during the child's second year
- the child's ego develops to cope with parental demands for socially appropriate behavior
3. Phallic Stage: - Between the ages of three and five
- child focuses most on the genital area
- Phallus is another word for penis
- Oedipus Complex: a boy has sexual desire for his mother and wants to eliminate his father's competition for her attention.
- Electra Complex: a young girl develops an attachment to her father and competes with her mother for his attention.
4. Lantency Period: - Lasts through childhood
- Sexual impulses stay with the youngster while focusing on education, same-sex peer play, and the development of social skills.
5. Genital Stage: - The stage that lasts for the rest of the person's life
- When sexual impulses reappear at a conscious level, the genitals again become the focus of pleasure
What leads to Neurosis?
-When a child doesn't fully develop in one of the stages. EXAMPLE: When a child is potty trained too strictly in the "anal stage", they can develop to be anal retentive later in life, needed everything to be in order and neat.
THEORY:
STAGE TO STAGE:
1. Oral Stage: - A child's first year is most attracted to the mouth
- infants use their mouth to eat and to explore everything from toys to their own hands and feet
- mouth is the center of pleasure during this period.
2. Anal Stage: - Occurs during the child's second year
- the child's ego develops to cope with parental demands for socially appropriate behavior
3. Phallic Stage: - Between the ages of three and five
- child focuses most on the genital area
- Phallus is another word for penis
- Oedipus Complex: a boy has sexual desire for his mother and wants to eliminate his father's competition for her attention.
- Electra Complex: a young girl develops an attachment to her father and competes with her mother for his attention.
4. Lantency Period: - Lasts through childhood
- Sexual impulses stay with the youngster while focusing on education, same-sex peer play, and the development of social skills.
5. Genital Stage: - The stage that lasts for the rest of the person's life
- When sexual impulses reappear at a conscious level, the genitals again become the focus of pleasure
What leads to Neurosis?
-When a child doesn't fully develop in one of the stages.
EXAMPLE: When a child is potty trained too strictly in the "anal stage", they can develop to be anal retentive later in life, needed everything to be in order and neat.